QBE North America and Leading Cities named RCOAST the 2025 QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge grand prize winner
NEW YORK, Nov. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The 2025 QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge, hosted by Leading Cities in partnership with QBE North America, awarded the City Solution of the Year honor to RCOAST, a climate-tech company that specializes in high-resolution coastal erosion analytics transforming complex coastal dynamics into actionable intelligence.
The QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge connects entrepreneurs from around the world with communities to help develop and expand solutions addressing global challenges. RCOAST was selected as the QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge grand prize winner from a pool of more than 820 entrepreneurs from 71 countries who submitted ideas leveraging smart-city solutions that aim to enhance community resilience, urban risk mitigation, equity and sustainability.
“Congratulations to RCOAST for their efforts in developing a cutting-edge solution that equips engineers, scientists and decision-makers with smarter, faster data for more effective coastline preservation,” said QBE North America CEO Julie Wood. “At QBE, we’re working to help support community resilience. The QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge provides entrepreneurs with direct access to a global network and helps deploy their solutions where they are needed most.”
As this year’s winner, RCOAST will receive a $100,000 grand prize for a city pilot project and will be featured in Leading Cities’ AcceliGOV program, where cities from around the world compete for a pre-paid pilot of the 2025 QBE AcceliCITY winning innovation.
“The QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge was built on the belief that lasting impact happens when we act together,” said Michael Lake, President and CEO of Leading Cities. “By bringing innovators, insurers and city leaders into one ecosystem, we turn shared challenges into shared progress. RCOAST shows what’s possible when preparation and partnership go hand in hand—when we stop working in silos and start building resilience as one community.”
Founder CEO of RCOAST, Dr. Christy Swann said, “At its core, RCOAST transforms how cities understand and address their coastlines. It detects subtle shifts in terrain and erosion revealing where risk is growing and where interventions are working. The result is a clear, interactive map that helps turn data into decisions.”
In addition to the grand prize, participants could also compete for a $25,000 Proptech prize for property-technology solutions aimed at mitigating losses where commercial property insurance intersects with resilience measures. True Flood Risk was named winner of the 2025 Proptech prize winner.
QBE also awarded two $25,000 People’s Choice awards, selected by QBE employees in two global regions. ByFusion was named the People’s Choice winner for both regions.
The QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge lowers the cost of innovation for local governments as well as startups and corporations by streamlining the innovation and implementation cycles for smart and resilient city solutions. The QBE AcceliCITY program connects startup’s smart solutions directly with users and provides the proper channels and know-how to deploy in cities.
About QBE North America
QBE North America is a global insurance leader that gets to the heart of what’s at risk for our customers. Part of QBE Insurance Group Limited, QBE North America reported Gross Written Premiums in 2024 of $7.3 billion. QBE Insurance Group’s results can be found at qbe.com. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, QBE operates out of 26 countries around the globe, with a presence in every key insurance market. The North America division, headquartered in New York, conducts business primarily through its insurance company subsidiaries. The actual terms and conditions of any insurance coverage are subject to the language of the policies as issued. Additional information can be found at qbe.com/us or follow QBE North America on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
About Leading Cities
Leading Cities is a global nonprofit organization that drives transformative urban innovation through a comprehensive, impact-focused approach. Leading Cities’ unique methodology encompasses the entire innovation lifecycle—from global sourcing and rigorous vetting to stakeholder education, implementation funding, and deployment support. Through flagship programs like AcceliGOV and AcceliCITY, Leading Cities systematically reduces the barriers to urban innovation by de-risking the adoption of new technologies for municipalities worldwide. Leading Cities connects public, private, academic, and nonprofit sectors to accelerate solutions that enhance sustainability, resilience, and equity in communities of all sizes. For more information, visit www.LeadingCities.org or connect with us on LinkedIn or Instagram.
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SOURCE QBE North America
